MANILA, Philippines - A convict who is suffering from cancer is the first to be granted executive clemency under the Aquino administration.
The President yesterday said he authorized the release of the convict from the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City upon the recommendation of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and the Bureau of Pardons and Parole. The inmate’s cancer worsened from stage two to stage four, according to Aquino.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Dear insansapinas,

The use of po and opo is a sign of respect to elders or people of authority. Agree? Give yourself a few minutes until all the votes from your brain roll in.

How come our movie stars particularly Nora Aunor is using po and opo to German Moreno while she calls her Kuya Germs? This is also true for other stars who use the Tagalog words to respond to Boy Abunda and calls him Kuya Boy and responds with opo or po.

In his SONA, Pnoy used a lot "opos" that when you count them, they would fill one fourth of the text of the speech. Neat eh?

So what was the result of your imaginary survey? Does it mean, I will say opo to my kuya to show respect ? Isn't that weird? False humility?

Monday, July 25, 2011

Dear insansapinas,
This is the reaction in Filipino to the <strong> STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS 2011</strong> of Preident Benigno S. Aquino III on July 25 2011.

The reaction paper is divided into three parts, the introduction (pasimula); the body or the reaction where the statements as well as the agreement ot disagreement of the person reacting are expressed and the last one is the conclusion (konklusiyon). The reactions in agreement or disagreement are presented in italics.

Before I write my reaction on the STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS of President Benigno Aquino III, let me give you some pointers on how to write reaction paper. I hate reading disorganized commentaries which are purely based on their opinions and not on what have been written or delivered.

* What do you think of what you are reading?
If it is a SONA you expect that the speech is all achievements of the administration.

* What do you agree or disagree with?

Based on your observations (not the comments or remarks of the opposition or critics of the administration ) write if you agree or disagree with what have been said.

Below is the full text of the <strong>STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS</strong> 2011 by President Benigno Aquino III as per request.

State of the Nation Address
of
His Excellency Benigno S. Aquino III
President of the Philippines
To the Congress of the Philippines
[Delivered at the Session Hall of the House of Representatives, Batasan Pambansa Complex, Quezon City on July 25, 2011]

Emily dela Cruz lives in a small house in Pasay City with her husband, 6 kids and other relatives. When the government gave her 900 pesos as part of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, she immediately bought necessities for her family.Emily said she appreciates the cash grant but said it would have been better if the government gave her a job.

More than motherhood statements, “undisputed facts and figures” on gains and plans.These are what can be expected from President Benigno Aquino III’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday, the “overarching themes” of which will center on his administration’s accomplishments in its anticorruption campaign and on what he intends to do in the coming year, Malacañang said Saturday.

Even with the use of facts and figures, the speech writer can paint a rosy picture of the state of the nation by presenting selective statistics only . IBON warned:

The public deserves better than a selective presentation of facts and figures in the president’s first year, and is hoping to be given a whole picture of the state of the nation. This is the challenge for President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino issued today by non-government research group IBON.

What do I expect therefore from the SONA? Being an economics graduate and with economic managers who can explain to him the significance of the figures of economic indicators, the President will not have difficulty using statistics to get his message across.

Like how's the economy doing?

Shall he present the GDP, GNP that measure this output of the nation for one year?

What is the GDP for the first Quarter of 2011? How is it compared with the GDP for the first quarter of 2010. Was there a change? What was the change? upward? downward?

A growth rate does not necessarily mean that the economy is doing good. For example, the growth rate is 5 per cent for the first quarter 2011 compared to first 2010. The economy is slowing down if the growth rate between the first quarters 2010 and 2009 was 8 per cent. How is it compared with the expectation of the international financial agencies?

Since GDP can be a measurement of the expenditures, namely personal, government,exports and imports. one can discern if government is spending to encourage production The government and private sectors invest in fixed durable equipment. A hike in the investment from the private sector reflects confidence in the government and the positive outlook of being able to recover its investments. A downward trend is an indicator of hesitation of the private sector to put in money in capital formation. An upward trend in the investment of the government shows its determination to look beyond the current administration in terms of benefits from the projects. A downward trend indicates either of the following:

1. the government does not have any projects for job creation and production growth.
2. the government is spending money for other purposes.

3. the government is to busy doing something else

4. the government has no money

In terms of expenditures on imports and exports, the government can explain to us why the exports expenditures may be going down while imports are accelerating. Are there negative balance of trades with different countries? Are we importing more than we are exporting.Are the excessive dollar reserves affecting our foreign currency exchange rates?

Saturday, July 23, 2011

There is a booming business where the participants aretoddlers and little girlswho shasayed in the red carpet to compete for beauty pageants.

They are all dolled up wearing tiaras, gowns and make-up. This is not without the price. The family spends more than $ 50,000 for one pageant alone. And what do they get? A dream that someday, the little will grow into a beauty queen or a movie star.

Opinions about parents who involve their children in pageants like these are negative.

"The parents are exploiting their own children for the sake of increasing the parent's self-esteem. Shame on them," one person said.

Another's view: "These parents need to stop living their lives through their children."

The mother of Eden whose daughter has been competing since she was one year old believes that she is developing the girl's personality. She admits also the fact that the little girl has already an attitide.

When my girl tsikiting gubat was in the elementary school, there was also such competition in their school. They scouted for Reyna something something not based on beauty but on the number of votes that they can garner. Each vote had an equivalent amount which went to the fund raising of the school.

Well parents wanted to show of their little girls. They were willing to pend several thousands so they can bring the title. Among the SAHM who hung out in the school to wait for their girls and to make tsismis with their barkada mothers, what is these thousands of pesos. They can pay expensive tuition fees so additional thousands won't matter.

The cousin-nanny-atty. at-law of my girl tsikiting gubat gave me the news that the principal would like her to join and the TG seemed interested.

The problem was, I do not believe in this kind of competition. I liked them to join contests which aould make use of their brains. Naah, hindi dahil ayaw kong mabutas ang aking bulsa. Yes, ayaw kong mabutas ang aking bulsa ng walang kapapararakan. I made her joined Santacruzan where the only expense I incurred wa for the fabric that I sew into a beautiful gown. (remember, I worked with a fashion designer when I was younger).

So I called for her. It was difficult to say no but I offered her shopping or vacation money instead of spending that in the contest. If she liked, I can donate to the school in her name too.

Friday, July 22, 2011

photocreditThe Philippine government has been crowing about its less expenditures since it took over last year. As I have been saying, this underspending to save would not spur growth to the economy of the nation. You do not need to have a doctorate in economics to know that money begets money. Any economics degree holder would know that like this senior economist of ING Bank who has the same observation. Even Jesus Christ who teaches about love is aware of it as expressed in one of His parables. Even an unschooled farmer knows that it is a fact.

A senior economist of Amsterdam-based ING Bank NV said the Aquino administration’s “underspending" in the name of good governance has cut down the country’s economic growth.At the Dutch Investment bank’s mid-year economic briefing, Joey Cuyegkeng said the country lost about 1.8 percent in growth because government spending declined 10.7 percent to P591.04 billion in January to May this year.Gross domestic productgrew only 4.9 percentin the first quarter.Cuyegkeng said he foresees even more spending cuts, with the projected budget deficit likely shrinking to P256 billion. That, Cuyegkeng estimates, will improve the country’s deficit-to-GDP ratio to 2.7 percent from 3.2 percent. http://www.gmanews.tv/story/214430/business/phl-2011-budget-deficit-to-reach-p300b-dofCuyegkeng also said GDP growth will settle at 5.2 percent this year and slip to 5.1 percent in 2012. These figures are slightly above theInternational Monetary Fund forecastof 5 percent but much lower than Aquino economic planners’ projections of 7 percent and 8 percent.

The Parable of Talents

Jesus often told a story to teach a lesson about faith, soul and love for other people. This is more about economics. Hear the story of the talents.

One day a man was going on a long trip. He needed his servants to take care of his property while he was gone, so he called them to him.

To the first servant he gave five talents of money. (A talent was not a coin, but a weight of a precious metal such as silver, and one talent was worth more than $1,000. So this servant received money worth more than $5,000.)

This man went to work at once using his money until he had doubled it. He now had ten talents instead of five.

The master gave the second man two talents. He probably thought the man was capable of managing that amount of money. The second man was successful also, and doubled his money. He began with more than $2,000 and now he had twice as much.

The third man was not as capable as the other two, but the master gave him one talent with the expectation that he would manage it well. He, too, could have increased his money, but he dug a hole and hid it in the ground.

OVER 25,000 government employees may lose their pension and other benefits unless some government agencies and local government units pay P2.38 billion in contributions and loan payments, the pension fund said Thursday.
Some 287 government agencies and local government units were suspended at the end of June for not remitting their employees’ premiums, loan payments, and other compulsory contributions that had been withheld from their salaries, pension fund spokesman Margie Jorillo said.

Private employees in the Philippines like in the United States get their pension from Social Security when they retire. Government employees receive the pension from the GSIS. Unscrupulous private employers deprive the employees of their pension by not remitting their contributions deducted from their paychecks and the equivalent share of the employe. Not many employees bother to check from the SSS of the total amount remitted under their name until they need medicare or apply for a salary or housing loan. Unlike here in the States when an employee receives a statement of account from the SSS two months before their birthday. In the statement, the remittances per period are presented; the amount of pension or disability benefits are estimated and the death benefits as well as the dependents (minor children and wife) are stipulated.

In the Philippines, no one can complain because they do not know what amount of pension and other benefits they are entitled to. Without complaint from the employees, the employer is adding that to their revenues. .

So I thought it is another story for government employees. Since, the fringe benefits which include GSIS premium coverage are included in the budget, there seems to be no problem where the fund will be coming from.

And yet, the Caloocan City government and other LGUs were found to be delinquent in remitting these contributions due for government employees. The total amount contributed and distributed are the basis of the pension once the employee retires.The lower the amount, the lower is the pension. Technically, these incompetent government officials are robbing the poor ordinary employees of their pension for life.

Other government employees who may have occupied top positions would not care about the small amount they are going to receive because their corruptions have earned them more than what they can spend for the rest of their lives.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Battling cancer is like fighting an invisible adversary. You do not know where it is going to strike. Some have no warning signs that the person learns about it at its advanced stage.

This is also a disease that does not discriminate its victims. It could be contracted by an ordinary person or a popular celebrity like Farrah Fawcett ; an ordinary citizen or a powerful leader of a country like Venezuela. Its president Hugo Chavez recently underwent a medical procedure to remove an abscessed tumor from colon as big as a baseball and is now undergoing chemotherapy treatments in Cuba.

In my early twenty's, I had three surgical procedures to remove cysts from my breast. Three of them were as big as play marbles. They kept on coming back. Every time, it was sent to test for malignancy, I stopped breathing.Masyado raw mainsist ang cysts ko. Pasaway. Luckily, they were not malignant. The Power UP there must know that I was not ready yet.

In 2007, they found another lump in my breast. In the same year, I was diagnosed with C. Two cysts; one was abscessed were removed from my colon. The lump in my breast disappeared.

In 2010, I was diagnosed again with hepatocellular carcinoma or liver cancer in layman's language. The MRI showed two tumors.

In January of 2011, my oncologist recommended me for a medical procedure that is equivalent to 1,000 chemotherapies.

The MRI after three months showed no response. The doctors were puzzled,

At this time, my tsikiting gubat who is the least religious among my "litters" promised that he would pray to the Nazareno of Quiapo. When he was an infant, he was given a 50-50 by the doctor due to abdominal infection at 7 days old. I told him that I prayed for his healing in Quiapo.

In March, another procedure was done by my surgeon, hoping that it would produce some positive results like shrinking the tumors. This is not a promise of cure but just a means to reduce the pain and to add at least some more months in my young (AHEM) life.

An hour after the MRI, my doctor called. I missed the call. I was too stressed after the procedure. The next day I returned the call. She wa ecstatic. She said that the tumors did not shrink. They're DEAD.But she added that usually new growths appear as to when, they can not tell. She asked me what do I feel.I do not know what to say. I know this is a battle. The cancer cells never give up. They may disappear and come back later, aggressively.That is why it is a battle. You keep on fighting.

Is it a miracle? I believe miracles do happen without necessarily having thunder and lightning as background or a supernatural phenomena that could not be explained. They happen thru people. Even a child may be the agent of the miracle.

When I went to my oncologist, I asked him if he is going to prescribe me meds to prevent the tumors from coming back. He said that he won't. Only if they come back. SUS.

Anyway I called up my son to thank him for prayers. I think going to Quiapo to pray for me has strengthened his faith. For me, it is a greater result of my battle with C.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Nora Aunor is slated to arrive July 21 in Manila to do the movie for E.R. Ejercito. German Moreno announced in his radio program that she is not coming. According to him she texted to her and her spokesperson that she might be coming later or early part of August.According to Ricky Lo, her name is in the manifest of PAL in the business section. Will she or won't she?She's coming, she's coming not, She's coming, she's coming not, She's coming, she's coming not, She's coming, she's coming not, She's coming, she's coming not,She's coming, she's coming not, She's coming, she's coming not.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Early morning, Monday, I was already at the door of the office of my eye doctor. It was still closed. So I sat at the corner of the hallway as other patients started arriving. Since there is no bench or chair, my brother gave me the smalll ice bucket to sit on. With my colored glasses, I just needed an empty can or a small shoe box so people can make " hagis" to me some bills or coins.hehehe Di ako lilimusan, mas maganda naman ang aking relo (ahem)pero hindi naman kasing expensive noong binili ng aking favorite star na sa kamahalan, parang nakapulupot sa kaniyang kamay ang isang bahay at lupa o isang SUV.
I walked in to the clinic--that means I have no appointment. Dito kasi kailangan may appointment ka bago ka nila pansinin. Last Saturday ang appointment ko. I had my eyes dilated for glaucoma testing . Every time I had a test, my eyes became red except for the first two tests, years ago. The first time, it happened, I thought I got a pink eye that I had contracted from a previous patient of my optometrist. You know the machines being used touched eyes and other parts of the faces. The second time, I thought, it was stress--the medical assistant overdid the procedure.

That's why I dread this eye test but my primary doctor insisted on it because of my diabetes.And now, my doctor is not an optometrist; he is an opthalmologist.

But it happened again. Sunday, when I woke up, I can hardly opened my eyes.The venetian blinds in my window were up so the sunlight was not filtered. Para akong vampire na nasasaktan sa init ng araw, para akong vampire na pinakitaan ng Krus. Ahhhhhhhhhh The worst was I can only see shadows when I opened my eyes. Every time I tried to open my eyelids, they hurt. I got runny nose that together with the tears from my eyes they're like the NIAGARA FALLS.

It was easy going to the bathroom because it's close to my room. But I could not eat that I slept whole day. Balak ko pa namang ulam ay tilapiya. Eh maraming tinik yon. When I woke up, I felt dehydrated. I need one drum of water to meet my water requirements for the day.

Faith is my life

Healing Prayer

For the good times

I can see clearly now

Ghost

Life is like water

Pinaysaamerika

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About me

About the Blog

This is a blog about the adventures and misadventures of a Filipina in the US of A who wants to save the world from clutches of evil but is too lazy to don her costume. It also includes her reminisces of her journey of life in her birth country. Sinimulan ko ito ng 2004 at pansamantalang iniwan ng magbukas ako ng marami pang blogs katulad ng Now What, Cat?. Ngayon na pinahihinga ko ang aking pusa, dito naman ako nanggugulo.